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--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, January 20th.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Today is Inauguration Day. This morning, Donald Trump will be welcomed to the White House by President Biden. The two will meet behind closed doors before they travel together to the Capitol.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: There, just before noon, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. The ceremony will happen inside the Capitol building, a last-minute shift because of freezing cold temperatures.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Only 600 people can fit in the rotunda, so it'll be a very different scene from past inaugurations, with crowds of thousands watching from the National Mall.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Every living president will be in attendance, along with a host of billionaires, CEOs, and foreign leaders.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Times reporter Jonathan Swan is reporting on Trump's return to power.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: I covered Trump's first term in office, and you just can't emphasize how different Washington was when he arrived here last time.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: It was a city primed to resist his presidency. But he now returns with fewer guardrails, a depleted opposition, a court system that he transformed in his first term, and a Congress that's much, much more compliant than existed in his first term.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: And he's also got the big money on his side. He has Elon Musk, the world's richest man, literally working for his government.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: He's got all these tech billionaires, people like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, people who used to be his adversaries, but are now scrambling to curry favor with him.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: In fact, when I talk to people close to Trump, there's a point that keeps re-emerging, which is he's always needed an enemy.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: He's always thrived on opposition. The difference this time is his enemies are all but vanquished.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: So Trump faces a different challenge, actually governing. He's going to be judged more than ever over the next four years by his ability to deliver on the promises that he made to his voters.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: Trump is expected to put some of his campaign promises into action as soon as this afternoon.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: At a pre-rally on Sunday, he said he was ready to start issuing a whole list of executive orders.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: Somebody said yesterday, "Sir, don't sign so many in one day. Let's do it over a period of weeks."
--:-- Jonathan Swan: I said, "Like hell, we're going to do it over weeks. We're going to sign them at the beginning."
--:-- Jonathan Swan: Among other measures, Trump is expected to make it easier to fire federal workers, which could allow him to clear out those who challenge his agenda.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: And he plans to undo some of Biden's climate initiatives.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: Some of his most dramatic first moves may center on immigration.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: By the time the sun sets tomorrow evening, the invasion of our borders will have come to a halt, and all the illegal border trespassers will in some form or another be on their way back home.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: Trump has plans to essentially seal the U.S.-Mexico border and carry out mass deportations.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: The Times has learned that his administration is planning immigration raids in Chicago this week.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: The goal is to send the message that it will crack down on so-called sanctuary cities like Chicago, which refuse to hand over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: Hundreds of immigration and customs enforcement agents were asked to volunteer for the Chicago raid.
--:-- Jonathan Swan: It could begin as soon as tomorrow, though Trump's border czar said the final decision hasn't been made yet.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Yesterday at 11:15 a.m. local time, the ceasefire in Gaza went into effect.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: After 470 days of war, Israel and Hamas are now observing a six-week truce.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Israel is pulling its troops back from populated areas and freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In exchange, Hamas is set to release 33 hostages.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The first to be released were three women who were taken from Israel on October 7th.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They were reunited with their families to tears and relief.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: While in Gaza, people poured into the streets to celebrate the ceasefire, but also to begin the grim work of surveying what's left.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Most of the territory has been destroyed.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Meanwhile, videos from Gaza show striking scenes of Hamas militants in their uniforms fanning out with Israeli troops gone.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Usually, when we see clips of the fighting in Gaza, we see young men in civilian clothes, sometimes in flip-flops.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: We haven't seen them in this very coordinated fashion, wearing their uniforms, carrying their assault rifles, wearing balaclavas, and green Hamas bandanas.
--:-- Patrick Kingsley: It's unclear whether that was simply a PR move mounted by the very last remnants of Hamas's fighting forces in Gaza City, or whether it was a sign that they are much less defeated than Israel would like them to be.
--:-- Patrick Kingsley: When we saw zoomed-out drone imagery of these militants surrounded by crowds of supporters, we could see that these were actually not very many people.
--:-- Patrick Kingsley: But nevertheless, it was clearly a very pointed attempt by Hamas to project strength to show not only to Israel, but also to their own people, the Palestinians in Gaza, that they, Hamas, remain the dominant force in town.
--:-- Patrick Kingsley: And that they will have to be reckoned with in any conversation about who gets to govern Gaza in a post-war future.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I feel so dumb coming on the internet and crying about an app, but the fact is that this has been a sense of community for me for years now, and it got me through really, really hard times in my life.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: For TikTok users in the U.S., it was a rollercoaster of a weekend as the app temporarily shut down, citing the law that banned it over national security concerns.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Oh, my God. I've already opened and closed the app probably six times already just to keep getting the same stupid warning message.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Starting late Saturday night, people who opened TikTok got a pop-up message saying it was unavailable, but that the company was working with Trump to find a way around that.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Just hours later, Trump announced that he would issue an executive order to push back the ban, and the app flickered back to life.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It was only 12 hours, but it felt like so much more, you guys.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This time, there was a new pop-up. Quote, "But the future of the app is still very much up in the air."
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The law in question was passed by Congress and unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: So, legal experts say Trump trying to block it would be uncharted territory.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Trump says he's trying to find a solution by striking a deal.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: To address concerns about TikTok's Chinese parent company, Trump wants an American entity to get 50% ownership.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But TikTok previously said a sale was impossible, and the Chinese government has signaled it might block one.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: For the moment, people who already have TikTok can keep scrolling, though Apple and Google have both dropped it from their app stores.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Since they face fines of up to $5,000 per person for anyone who uses their platforms to access it.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: For more on what could happen next for TikTok, listen to today's episode of The Daily.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally, for more than 150 years, the National Mall has been home to monuments honoring presidents, veterans, the Postal Service, even horses.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But there's never been one specifically honoring women.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In one of Biden's last official acts, he signed a bill allowing the creation of a monument to the women's suffrage movement.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The effort to get this kind of thing has been underway almost since women got the right to vote.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The most recent effort required a years-long push by lawmakers and an exception to an existing law that forbids any new additions to the National Mall.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The monument's exact location and design are still being worked out, but it's expected to be unveiled in about five years.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Notably, there was an early statue honoring suffragettes that was displayed in the U.S. Capitol back in 1921.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It was up for exactly one day before it was banished to a service closet for 75 years.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow. Thank you.
